Namibians were still voting early Thursday, hours after polls were scheduled to close in a presidential and legislative election set to test the ruling party’s 34-year grip on power in the southern African nation.
Logistical issues left crowds waiting to vote, though polls were scheduled to close at 1900 GMT on Wednesday. Ballot counting had started at some polling stations with early results initially expected by Saturday, according to the electoral calendar.
However, in the face of criticism from political parties and voters over the long queues, the Electoral Commission of Namibia said it was extending voting hours.
ECN spokesman, Siluka De Wet, told newsmen Thursday morning that some people were still voting. Polling officers told newsmen that voting stopped at 05:00 am on Thursday at the University of Science and Technology in Windhoek.
The vote could usher in the desert nation’s first woman leader even as her party, the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation faces the strongest challenge to its dominance on politics since Namibia’s 1990 independence from South Africa.
After casting her ballot, SWAPO’s candidate and current vice president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, called on the country’s 1.5 million people registered to vote to come out in their numbers.
